DEC 3000 AXP

DEC 3000 AXP was the name given to a series of computer workstations and servers, produced from 1992 to around 1995 by Digital Equipment Corporation.

Within Digital, this led to the DEC 3000 series being affectionately referred to as "the seabirds".

These ASICs connect the various different width buses used in the system, allowing data to be transferred to the different subsystems.

The subsystem features a SFB (smart frame buffer) ASIC, a Brooktree Bt459 RAMDAC, 2 MB of VRAM and in the Model 500, 500S and 500X, a 256 KB flash ROM that holds part of the system firmware.

Because of the DEC 3000 AXP's similarity with Digital's previous RISC workstation line, the DECstation, the same TURBOchannel graphics options, which consisted of framebuffers, 2D and 3D accelerated graphics, were carried over the DEC 3000 AXP.

Like the DECstation, up to three (the actual number may be less, depending on the number of TURBOchannel option slots the system features) framebuffers of the same model can be installed in a single system to support multiscreen configurations.

The Denali is an external enclosure that contains up to six geometry engines and multiple memory modules.

The I/O subsystem provides the DEC 3000 AXP with Ethernet, ISDN and audio capability, four serial lines, and a real-time clock.

ISDN and telephone-quality audio is provided by an AMD Am79C30A DSC (Digital Subscriber Controller).